up 
Of the irJiftorie of Plants. L 1 b. 
tone like polypodium'mhis creeping root, like the male Feme in his ftalke, and like the female 
Feme in his nerues and leaues. I could finde no feed-fcales on the backeftdes of any of the leaues 
of this Feme. Many yeares paft I found this lame in a very wetmoore or bog, being the land of 
Richard Auften^c ailed Whitrow Moore, where Peate is now digged, a mile from Peters-field in 
Hampfhire; and this fixthofluly, i 63 3, 1 digged vp there many plants, and by them made this 
defcrtption. I neuer found it growing in any other place : the leaues perifh at Winter , and grow 
vpagainevery late in the Spring. Iohn Goodyer . Iulyfi. 1633. 
1 Dodoruiu thusdefcribes his : Dryopteris (faith he) doth well referable the male Feme, but 
the leaues are much fmaller, and more finely cut, fmooth on the forefaid, and of a yellowifh green 
together with the ftalkes and middle nerues ; on the backe it is rough as other Femes, and alfo li- 
ueth without ftalke or feed. The root confifts of fibres intricately folded together, ofan indiffe- 
rent thicknefle, here and there putting vp new buds. This is the Adianthum of the lyiduerf. who 
affirme the vfe thereof to be fare, and not pernitious and deleterie, as that of Dryopteris. It thus dif- 
fers from the former ; the leaues of this are not fet direftly one oppofite to another, the diuifions of 
the leaues are larger and more diuided. The root is more threddy,and creepes not fo much as that 
of the former. 
3 This (which is Cluftus his Filix pumila faxatilis ^riwrfjauyjshjeh I taketjo be the Dryopteris or 
Filix arborea of T ragus ) hath blacke (lender long creeping $&*Ma Uv)i artk 4 jM|J|b re s 
faftned to them, of a very aftringent tafte : from thefe rifevp fundry ftalkes a foot high.djuided in- 
to certaine branches ofwinged leaues, like to thofeof the female Feme, but much lelfe, tenderer 
and finer cut, and hauing many blackifh fpotson their lower lides. This differs from the two for- 
mer, in that the leaues are branched , which is a chiefe difference ; and Bauhintu did very well ob- 
ferue it, if he had as well followed it, when he diuided Filix into ramofa & nonramofa. F 
The Place. 
It is oftentimes found in funny places, in the vallies of mountains and little hils,and in the tops 
of the trunks of trees in thicke woods. 
«[ The Time. 
The leaues hereof perifh in W inter • in the Spring new come forth. 
The Tfjmes. 
This is called in Greeke ■ in Latinc, fpuerna Filix . oribafius inhiseleucnthbook of phy- 
ficall Collections calleth it Bryopteris, of the moffe with which it is found ; for, as Diofcerides wri- 
teth, it groweth in the molfe of Okes. The Apothecaries in times paft mifcalled it by the name 
oiCidiantum : but they did worfe inputting it in compound medicines in ftead of Cyidiantum. 
Valerius Cordus calleth it Pteridion: in low- Dutch, (Ctjcftcn bdtCtt: the Spaniards, Helechode Ru- 
ble : it is named in Englifh, Oke-Ferne, Petty-Ferne ; and it may moft fitly be called Moffe- 
Ferne. 
ty The Temperature and Vert ties. 
Oke-Ferne hath many taftes, it is fiveet, biting, and bitter, it hath in the root a harfh or choking 
tafte, and a mortifying qualitie,and therefore it taketh away haires. Diofcerides faith further, that 
Oke-Ferne damped roots and all is a remedie to root vphaires, if it be applied to the body after 
fweating, the fweat being wiped away. 
Chap. 4 6 y. Of blacke Oke-Ferne. 
^ TbeDefcriptm. 
1 f I 1 Here is alfo a certaine other kinde of Feme like to the former Oke-Ferne of Dodonstm 
J his defeription, but the ftalkes and ribs of the leaues are blackifh, and the leaues of a 
deeper greene colour : this groweth out alfo immediately from the root, and is like- 
wife diuerfly, but not fo finely indented:the root is madevpof many firings, not vnlike to the 
male Feme, but much leffer. 
2 The female blacke Feme is like vnto the male, failing his leaues are not fo fharpe at the 
points, more white and oroad than the male, wherein confifteth the difference. 
They grow likewife 
and vnder hedges. 
^1 The Place. 
vpon trees in fhadowie woods, and now and then in lhadowie Tandy banks, 
1 The 
